Vintage Shopping & Mud Baths in Wine Country

A few months ago, I took a day visit to the wine country and found two wonderful stores in St. Helena. This weekend, Kathryn and I had a plan to do mud baths in Calistoga, so on the way we stopped in St. Helena and visited Lolo's (1120 Main St., St. Helena , CA 707-963-7972), a consignment store that is right on the edge of the town. It is a fun store with a mix of vintage glassware, figurines and furniture with some great consignment clothes. Mixed in with the usual jeans and casual wear was a beautiful, mauve Armani jacket. Lolo's also has consignment shoes and purses at very reasonable prices.

After Lolo's we were hungry and a few doors away was an excellent Mexican restaurant, Cocina Mexicana where we had lunch. After lunch, we walked down the street to one of my my favorite vintage store (and the only one in town), Vintage Trunk (1210 Main St., St. Helena, CA 94574, 707-967-8008, Maria@vintagetrunkonline.com), owned by Maria Rohe. Maria opened her store to us and let me photograph her beautiful couture shoes, purses and gowns, which I am sharing with you.

After a quick stroll around St. Helena, we headed to Calistoga, which is only a few miles away in the most beautiful countryside of vineyards and picturesque wineries. We had a 2:30 appointment at Dr. Wilkinson's Hot Springs Mud baths in Calistoga. If you have never had one, I would suggest you try it sometime. It is an amazing experience being up to your neck in hot mud. It would be hard to take if it wasn't for the ice-cold cloth on your head and the cucumber slices on your eyes. Ten minutes seems like 10 hours, but afterwards you feel relaxed and it does wonders for your skin. We spent the night in Calistoga and tried the warm mineral swimming pools at Dr. Wilkinson's in the evening.

Today, we drove back to the Bay Area, but on the way stopped at Castle Winery, which is between Calistoga and St. Helena on Highway 29. The winery is an actual castle on top of a hill overlooking Napa Valley and surrounded by vineyards. Our last stop, outside of Napa, was a flea market that I wanted to check out. Unfortunately, it had no vintage anything, but I did manage to take a few interesting photos, which I am including. Enjoy!